Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Wright - 2.djvu/449

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"Warton says, in his analysis of this story, "The son of king Gorgonius is beloved by his step-mother." This is a mistake. The Latin text is, "Rex, aliam uxorem duxit, quæ filium primæ uxoris non dilexit, sed opprobria multa sibi intulit." Nothing can be plainer.

"The most curious anecdote of chivalry, now on record, occurs in the ecclesiastical history of Spain. Alphonsus the Ninth, about the year 1214, having expelled the Moors from Toledo, endeavoured to establish the Roman missal in the place of Saint Isidore's. This alarming innovation was obstinately opposed, by the people of Toledo, and the king found that his project would be attended with almost insuperable difficulties. The contest at length between the two missals grew so serious, that it was mutually resolved to decide the controversy, not by a theological disputation, but by single combat; in which the champion of the Toletan missal proved victorious."—.